Almost three years after the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, the war continues to cause serious damage and suffering to the population. Essential infrastructure such as schools and hospitals are in ruins, and it may seem inappropriate to talk about sports and the need to support sports activities and facilities. However, Ukrainian children and young people need to find some peace and serenity not tomorrow, not after reconstruction, but already today, because it is today that they need it. Those who do not have the power to stop the war, however, can contribute to creating conditions of everyday life and offer spaces of serenity.
In this sense, sports play a fundamental role, also taking on a therapeutic value.
The solidarity project supported by the Corsa dei Santi 2024 this year continues to be a project organised and promoted by the Salesian Mission Office in Turin, Missioni Don Bosco. It aims to renovate a sports field in Lviv, Ukraine, to support the physical and psychological rehabilitation of children, adolescents and adults traumatised by war.
The planned activities include the replacement of the surface of the football field with synthetic grass to make it usable by about 70 vulnerable minors housed at the Salesian "Pokrova" family home totally orphaned, semi-orphaned or with dysfunctional families, and about fifteen internally displaced minors from the areas most affected by the war; 300 children and young people attending the "FC Pokrova" football school who are vulnerable, often from rural areas, and who attend school for free; 45 athletes with disabilities, in most cases who have suffered injuries to their limbs mainly due to the war, who are already included in the teams for amputees in the "amp Football" and "amp Football Children" at Pokrova's work; and 180 students from the Don Bosco Vocational School from low-income families and/or from vulnerable social strata. Indirectly, the project will also benefit the local community and the parents of the beneficiaries.
The context of the war has left many essential infrastructures damaged, but sport can offer moments of peace, stability and socialisation, crucial for the psychological well-being of people, especially the youngest.
The Corsa dei Santi sporting event for 2024 includes a 10 km foot race and two ways to participate – competitive and non-competitive – that will take place on the same track: a route that winds along some of the most beautiful and well-known streets of the historic centre of Rome, with the finish and start in St Peters Square
More than 3,500 people have already registered for the event. The testimonials chosen for this edition are Caterina Banti, a two-time Gold Medalist at the Olympics (Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024), and Olympic and military athlete Sofiia Yaremchuk.
To support the project associated with the 16th Corsa dei Santi it will be possible to make a donation, from Italy, from Monday 28 October to Tuesday 5 November, to 45586: 2 euro by SMS, 5 or 10 euro from a fixed network.
For more information, visit www.corsadeisanti.it and www.missionidonbosco.org
